Daimler invests in battery materials to lay the foundation for electrification

Daimler invests in battery materials to lay the foundation for electrification

Issue Time:2019-04-24

(photo by Daimler official website)Daimler has taken a minority stake in us battery materials specialist Sila Nanotechnologies as part of its research and development activities, foreign media reported.Founded in 2011, Sila Nano is a leading developer of new battery materials that are superior to existing lithium-ion battery technologies.With the latest developments, the company has set a new standard for battery performance, harnessing the potential of silicon to enable safe, mass-produced, high-energy density batteries that will open new possibilities for electrification in areas such as consumer electronics and electric vehicles.With the stake, Daimler will get a seat on Sila Nano's board.The investment is part of the latest round of financing for the Sila Nano, led by Daimler."We are on the road to a carbon-free future," said Sajjad Khan, executive vice President of Daimler's connected, autonomous, Shared and electric vehicles business.When our brand new EQC model came to market this year, we were already preparing for a new generation of more powerful electric vehicles.Lithium ion battery technology is the most effective battery technology at present, and it still has great development potential in the future."Sila Nano has a very promising future in battery performance.The battery has a highly complex integrated system that determines the vehicle's performance, range, and charging time characteristics.As an important part of Daimler's electrification strategy, material and cell capabilities in battery technology assessment and research and development activities continue to grow.This includes the ongoing optimization of current lithium-ion battery systems, further development of existing batteries in the global market, and research into next-generation battery systems.The chemistry of conventional lithium-ion batteries has reached its limit, and Sila Nano's interdisciplinary team of scientists and engineers is driving the next generation of battery chemistry with safe, powerful, mass-produced silicon.Gene Berdichevsky, co-founder and CEO of Sila Nano, said, "this breakthrough chemistry has the potential to improve on conventional lithium-ion batteries by up to 20 percent."The company, based in alameda, calif., completely replaces conventional graphite electrodes with its proprietary silicon-based composites.The material has a high energy density and high cycle life, which means electric cars will have a more powerful, longer range and longer lasting power source.Mercedes is rapidly accelerating the pace of electrification.By 2022, the entire mercedes-benz range will be electrified.This means that from 48-volt Power systems (EQ Boost) and plug-in hybrids (EQ Power) to more than a dozen battery - or fuel-cell-powered pure electric vehicles (EQ), each segment will have a different electrification offering.Daimler expects electric models to account for 15-25 per cent of total mercedes-benz sales by 2025, depending on framework conditions such as infrastructure, customer preferences and specific legal conditions for further development in specific markets.Mercedes-benz is investing about 10bn to expand its portfolio under the EQ brand.In addition, Daimler is investing more than 1 billion euros to build a global battery production network in mercedes-benz's global production network.The company buys batteries on the global market and instructs suppliers to make them according to special specifications.In this way, make sure you get the best technology.It has spent more than 20 billion on batteries and is creating the conditions for a continued shift to the future of electricity.Mercedes-benz's global battery production network will consist of nine factories on three continents in the future.